Life & Times: Christmas baby a natural toy fan

Tom Burns’ love of toys ran so deep that the phrase “Toys for Tom” famously adorned the vanity plate of his most prized plaything, a 1979 powder blue Corvette. Nor was his predilection for fast and loud objects restricted to four wheels: Burns owned several motorbikes throughout his life, and the story of one is well known among his friends.

Michael Arcuri

Updated: August 24, 2014

From left, Tom Burns poses with MLAs George VanderBurg and George Rogers with the motorcycle Burns won at an auction during a fundraiser for Rogers. Submitted

EDMONTON – Tom Burns’ love of toys ran so deep that the phrase “Toys for Tom” famously adorned the vanity plate of his most prized plaything, a 1979 powder blue Corvette.

Nor was his predilection for fast and loud objects restricted to four wheels: Burns owned several motorbikes throughout his life, and the story of one is well known among his friends.

“We were at (Leduc MLA) George Rogers’ fundraiser, a golf tournament which we go to every year,” his wife Sheryl recalled. “Tom didn’t play, but he showed up for the barbecue afterwards, which was a huge mistake.”

Outside was a brand-new cherry red Johnny Pag chopper. Once Burns learned it would be up for auction later that evening, Sheryl could see the twinkle in his eye.

“Tom, don’t even think about it,” she recalled telling him. “You’re 63 — what are you going to do with a motorbike?” But he was not to be deterred. Once the auction started, Burns’s hand shot up and he became the proud owner.

The longtime political consultant died Aug. 3 from a heart attack. He was 65.

His birthday may have influenced that love of toys.

Thomas George Burns was born Dec. 25, 1948, in Danville, Que., to Robert and Frances Burns.

While many people would agree having your birthday on Christmas Day isn’t advantageous, his family disagreed.

“People always said, ‘You poor thing,’ but that wasn’t the case,” Sheryl said. “He was treated so well by everybody on Christmas Day, he was a spoiled brat in that regard.”

Burns graduated from Ottawa’s Carleton University with a degree in engineering. He remained closely tied to his alma mater through his life and was invited to speak to the graduating engineering class last November.

The school’s Minto Centre bears a seat with his name.

“He was extremely proud of the fact he was an engineer, although he didn’t use his degree for that,” Sheryl said. “He always said that his education served him very well.”

Burns began working in 1975 as a transportation planner with the Alberta government. He held many titles, including senior director for passenger transportation services, and director of the Office of the Ministry of Social Services.

He would join an international consulting firm in 1993 until leaving to start his own firm in 2001 with his wife and his friend Jim Dau.

“As a consultant, Tom invented a great tactic for touching base with politicians at conventions and fundraisers,” Dau said in Burns’s eulogy. “Just hang out in the bar and everyone will eventually come to you.”

Burns’s influence can be felt all over Alberta’s political landscape. Former deputy premier Hugh (Doc) Horner mentored Burns, who used that experience to work with Don Getty when he ran for the Progressive Conservative leadership in 1985.

Burns would manage Horst Schmid’s campaign in 1986, and he worked for Ralph Klein in 1992. In 2011, he’d consult his mentor’s son, Doug Horner, when he ran for the PC party leadership.

Dau says Burns was instrumental in winning for Klein the Edmonton vote and, eventually, the premiership. The two had met years before, when Klein was environment minister and Burns was in social services.

“In the early days, when Ralph’s network was not that big, every Sunday morning was a meeting at Tom and Sheryl’s house,” Dau said. “We laughed and told stories until we all cried.”

It was his work with the government that allowed Burns to meet his future wife. He hired her as an administrative assistant in 1981, and that’s when the relationship blossomed.

They began living together in 1985, but “we both swore up and down we were never getting married again,” Sheryl said.

Burns obviously had other plans. The couple was at an environmental conference in Vancouver with Klein when “we were in an elevator and he popped the question,” she said.

On Sept. 8, 1990, they married at their home, in front of friends and family. The wedding party featured a trio of flower girls, the couple’s children from previous marriages: Kelly and Krystyna to Burns, and Anjelica to Sheryl.

“Tom called it a blended family, we always talked about the girls as being ours,” Sheryl said.

He was unable to purchase his final toy, a 2015 Chevrolet Corvette, straight from the factory in Kentucky.

“He told me ‘Sheryl, on the dashboard they have a little plaque that says built in Bowling Green for Tom and Sheryl Burns,’ and that was his must-do.”

He was close, though. A model of the car, bought by Sheryl, sits in their vacation home in Phoenix, Ariz. One final toy for Tom.

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